I'm a San Francisco-based Assistant Managing Editor with a focus on wealth. I edit mostly, but also write about how the richest get wealthy and how they spend their time and their money. My colleague Luisa Kroll at Forbes in New York and I oversee the massive reporting effort that goes into Forbes' annual World's Billionaires List and the Forbes 400 Richest Americans list. The former gets me to use my rusty Spanish and Portuguese. In 2014, I won an Overseas Press Club award for an article I wrote about Saudi Arabian billionaire investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal; I also won a Gerald Loeb Award with co-author Rafael Marques de Morais for an article we wrote about Isabel dos Santos, the eldest daughter of Angola's President. Over 20 years my Forbes reporting has taken me to 17 countries on four continents, from the slums of Manila to palaces in Saudi Arabia and Mexico's presidential residence. Follow me on Twitter @KerryDolan My email: kdolan[at]forbes[dot] com Tips and story ideas welcome.

5 Things To Love About The Maker Faire

Two years ago, in a somewhat random decision, I convinced my husband and kids to join me at the Maker Faire in San Mateo, about 30 minutes south of San Francisco. We didn’t really know what to expect, and we were overwhelmed – in a positive way. Tens of thousands of people crowded in to the San Mateo County Fairgrounds to ogle and absorb and participate in a feast of everything DIY. Adam Savage of MythBusters fame described how he became a maker (he started in theater as a props guy); people riding stationary bicycles powered the sound system on the “Pedal Powered Stage” and large, fire-breathing metal sculptures wowed the crowd in a big open lot. And there was so much more.

On Sunday I was back at the Bay Area Maker Faire – an event that started 9 years ago. There were 100 Maker Faires in 20 countries last year, attracting a total of 530,000 visitors, according to MAKE magazine; this year there are likely to be 140 faires, in places as far flung as Anchorage, Alaska; Oslo, Norway and Singapore. The two flagship faires are in the Bay Area and New York City.

El Pulpo Mecanico (photo credit: Kerry A. Dolan)

What I love about the Maker Faire is discovering the unexpected, and the mind-expanding possibilities that accompany such discovery. My 11-year-old daughter is hooked, which is great. She’s thrilled that the guy at one of the 3D printing stations gave her a small elephant with moving legs produced by one of the 3D printers. I’m thrilled that she has seen 3D printing in action.

Here, in no particular order, is a list of 5 awesome things at this year’s Maker Faire. It’s by no means exclusive. If you went to this faire or to any of the others, please chime with your favorites.

1. El Pulpo Mecanico

This giant metal octopus, with bulging eyes and movable tentacles that spewed fire, sat atop what was once a junk heap of a Ford passenger van. Two talented guys from Eureka, Calif. – Neil and Jerry (no last names given) – spent three months building this impressive work of art, which stands about 25 feet tall. It’s a Burning Man regular: they drive it there and assemble it in place. When I mentioned I was from Forbes, Neil perked up and said they were looking for investors. The reason: the octopus burns through as much as $4,000 worth of propane at Burning Man to keep the flames shooting out from its tentacles. It is truly a sight to behold.

Playing the Robo-Tar (photo credit: Kerry A. Dolan)

2. Robo-tar

A cool invention that enables even brand new beginners to play guitar, thanks to a 3D-printed contraption attached to the neck of the guitar that picks out the chords for you. Kevin Krumwiede, an IT guy by day from Marin County (north of San Francisco), spent nights and weekends creating the Robo-tar so his dad, an avid guitarist, could play again following a stroke that disabled the left side of his body. Choose a song on the nearby laptop –“Yesterday” by the Beatles or “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash were two of the choices – and the chord changes show up above the lyrics on the screen. All the guitar player has to do is strum and push a foot pedal when it’s time for a new chord. Krumwiede’s first customer had a brain injury but was able to play using the simplified guitar.

3. Giant undulating metal trees.

I didn’t find any description of who made these, but I really did enjoy watching them sway in the wind while we ate lunch. Amazingly beautiful.

Undulating metal “trees” (photo credit: Kerry A. Dolan)

4. Fab-Mo

Every year tons and tons of small scraps of fabrics are dumped into landfills. Fab-Mo, a nonprofit, has been rescuing as many as 70 tons a year of fabric samples from the greater Bay Are and making them available to educators, artists and people interested in using the materials for craft projects. Hannah Cranch started out collecting these samples from design showrooms for use in art classes for the schools in Palo Alto. Eventually, after they ran out of room at their house, she and her husband Jonathan rented a warehouse in Mountain View to store the samples. Once a month or so the warehouse is open for people to come and take some samples for projects in return for a donation to help cover the rent for the warehouse. At the Maker Faire, Fab Mo was giving away swatches of fabrics and encouraging people of all ages to create a fabric portrait from scraps, buttons and glue.

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